Thanks for the report. Really nice fish!
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I will frequently catch some pumpkinseeds (from Cumberland Lake) a day or two ahead of my striper fishing trip. Pumpkinseeds are very hardy & stripers really like them.
Dad's fish was 37 inches & weighed 25 lbs. He swears my De-Liar didn't work & the fish weighed 40 lbs.
Thanks for the report. Really nice fish!
Sounds like some quality fish being caught recently. Didn't expect to hear of as many 20+ lbers as I have this early in the "recovery." Positive sign!
Bait is tough this time of year. Try burning a spoon back to the boat or even burning you dead bait through a school can trigger a strike.
Check on pumpkinseeds, they might not be legal. Can't remember for sure but not all sunfish are legal bait.
Nice one!I will frequently catch some pumpkinseeds (from Cumberland Lake) a day or two ahead of my striper fishing trip. Pumpkinseeds are very hardy & stripers really like them.
Dad's fish was 37 inches & weighed 25 lbs. He swears my De-Liar didn't work & the fish weighed 40 lbs.
We were running spoons and umbrella jigs off the back and caught some nice fish but the bigger fish were keying on the live bait. Striper bite is good now and will only get better, I saw some really nice brown bass being caught as well this trip.Sounds like some quality fish being caught recently. Didn't expect to hear of as many 20+ lbers as I have this early in the "recovery." Positive sign!
Bait is tough this time of year. Try burning a spoon back to the boat or even burning you dead bait through a school can trigger a strike.
Check on pumpkinseeds, they might not be legal. Can't remember for sure but not all sunfish are legal bait.
I visited KY fishing regulations & here's what I found.
Regardless of size or how obtained, it is illegal to use any sport fish for bait (except redear sunfish less than 6 inches long). (Sport fish species are listed here). Minnows are defined as all fish, except sport fish species, less than 6 inches long. Also, see page 21 for a description of fish species protected in Kentucky under the Endangered Species Act – these fish species shall not be taken for any use. Bluegills are not sport fish and may be taken for bait as described above.
Pumpkinseeds are not considered a sport fish or are they protected on page 21. This is a large one but less than 6 inches to boot.
Good stuff - sorry for any confusion. I guess just redears > 6 inches are off limits. I thought green sunfish were not allowed but that's not the case. Heading out in a few minutes with some alewives. Hopefully will have a good report later.
Lowerider
"It's not what I don't know, it's what I know for sure that ain't so." - Will Rogers. Always good to double check what I know...........
I grew up in Indiana & the pictured fish was called a 'Punkinseed.' I tried to remove some regional jargon & call it a Pumpkinseed. There's was also a small fish called a 'Green sunfish' that does occasionally grow large enough to consider eating. It's got a larger mouth, like a War-mouth bass. I've caught a few of these locally as well, normally in Green River. I've not found any references to either of these native fish, identifying what the Commonwealth calls them. I suggest they're too prolific & too insignificant to garner any recognition.
Now if I could learn how to catch Alewives, I could remove one more thing from my bucket list.
The good thing about punkinseeds is that they are very hardy & live forever. You don't hafta' check your bait as often.
My wife suggests I should leave striper fishing alone until we eat more from the freezer. I guess I should visit the neighbors with a frozen good will basket.
CG-Wow, I think you need to read a little closer. The only thing I "knew for sure" was that not all sun fish are legal bait?
Fish were a little scattered but managed a few fish sandwiches. 40-80 feet. More active fish were actually the deep ones.
You may wanna' reread the quote I used from Will Rogers & it's content. It was directed at me, I followed it up with the idea that I occasionally need to confirm what I thought I knew.......
I've never done any good with bluegills. I was on a massive school of stripers with lines shooting up and crossing everywhere while on a blackout school of shad and couldn't get the first nibbler on the sunfish. My poor sunfish(could have been bluegills, I don't know) would start going crazy as a striper would come up and sniff it, but not one of them got killed by a striper. We started dropping spoons and started catching stripers. Burning a Flitterbait up off the bottom will fire them up too.
what you are showing is actually a longear not a pumpkinseed but as long as it catches stripersI visited KY fishing regulations & here's what I found.
Regardless of size or how obtained, it is illegal to use any sport fish for bait (except redear sunfish less than 6 inches long). (Sport fish species are listed here). Minnows are defined as all fish, except sport fish species, less than 6 inches long. Also, see page 21 for a description of fish species protected in Kentucky under the Endangered Species Act – these fish species shall not be taken for any use. Bluegills are not sport fish and may be taken for bait as described above.
Pumpkinseeds are not considered a sport fish or are they protected on page 21. This is a large one but less than 6 inches to boot.